when's the last time you heard something like this? the city detroit in a blaze of smoke and flames. severe winds whipping up 85 fires, all in a period of about four hours time. tens of thousands of people without power this morning. every firefighter available was called in. we'll talk to the city's fire commissioner about the city that is still smoldering this morning. >> so unusual. for so many homes to be set aflame is unbelievable. also, the president is bound for cleveland today. he is preparing to announce his $350 billion plan to get comet rolling again. the swhous avoiding using words stimulus. republicans say it's not enough. and there's a live report from cnn's ed henry following the president in ohio. and the am blog up is and running this morning. so we're hearing from the

person that is behind the mosque that is set to be built behind ground zero. the imam says the project will go forward. >>' dresses t he addresses the debate saying "i imvery sensitive to the feelings of the families of victims of 9/11 as are my fellow leaders of many faiths. we will accordingly seek the support of those families and the support of our vibrant neighborhood as we consider the ultimate plans for the community center. our objective has always been to make this a center for unification and healing." the imam just returned from a trip to the middle east promoting u.s.-muslim relations. >> reporter: you never heard him speak, this is what the imam has to say. >> the major theme in islam is the oneness of god.

and that we should worship one god, love and adore the one guy. >> reporter: people who know him say he is a voice of unification. >> his work is well known. >> reporter: the developer of the controversial islamic center near ground zero. >> he is somebody who has sacrificed his life to building bridges within communities. >> reporter: islamic scholar and university professor john esposito. how would you describe him? is he a threat? >> feisal, from my point of view, he is mr. mellow. >> reporter: imam feisal is a muslim. >>' proechs islam spiritually. he is a one pursues, if you will, a more spiritualness mystical path. he finds terrorism and religious

extremism as abhorrent. he's run a mosque in this area for years and years and years. >> reporter: that mosque is ten blocks from ground zero and co-existed peacefully for 28 years. >> he is integrated himself into the community. >> reporter: according to his biography, feisal was born into an egyptian family steeped in religious scholarship. in 1997, he founded the nan profit american society for muslim advancement. its mission described on the website as "strengthening an authentic expression of islam based on cultural and religious harmony through interfaith collaboration, youth, and women's empowerment." he founded an institute to improve relations between the muslim world and the west writing how american muslims can help bridge the divide.

the state department noticed sending him as a cultural ambassador on four trips to the middle east. >> they try to get people who reflect the best aspects of american society. >> reporter: he is often asked to speak at meetings like the world economic forum in davos. he was criticized for saying u.s. support of oppressive regimes was partly responsible for the attacks but said the remarks were taken out of context. he sports israel's right to exist but says he can't condemn radical palestinian group hamas as terrorists. as for the proposed islamic center and mosque near ground zero, he says that, too, is about bridges. >> this is also our expression of the 99.99% of muslims all over the world including in america who have condemned and continue to condemn terrorism. this is about our stand as the muslim community and strength of

this community. >> reporter: but right now this cleric finds himself at the eye of a storm. >> and so as we mentioned, imam feisal abdul rauf will be on larry king tonight. there is growing outrage over a florida's plan to burn copies of the koran. on 360, jones responded to general david petraeus who said burning the muslim holy book could put american troops in danger. >> we're burning the book. we're not killing someone. we're not murdering people. we're not dragging people out of the cars who are doctors and killing them. we are simply burning a book. the general needs to point his finger to radical islam and tell them to shut up. tell them to stop. tell them we will not bow our knees to them.

>> hillary clinton calls the planned koran building disrespectful, disgraceful act. she spoke last night at a dinner celebrating the muslim holy month. coming up, for hannah kara, executive direct dwror of muslim advocates and reverend dr. welton gady, a pastor with the interfaith alliance will be joining us. they had an emergency meeting yesterday with attorney general eric hold bert growing anti-islamic sentiment in america. we're going to talk to them about why this meeting was called and what they felt came out of it. >> a developing story this morning. 85 fires burning across detroit. all of it happened in the small span of about four hours last night. officials think that 50 mile an hour winds brought down several power lines on top of fanning the flames. >> hundreds of firefighters had to be called in to tackle the situation. they needed help from neighboring firefighters in other communities. so we're finding out what happened exactly in detroit. fire commissioner james mack joins us on the phone this

morning. good morning, commissioner. thanks for being with us. >> good morning. >> so 85 fires in a span of four hours. what's the latest on the situation this morning? is everything under control? >> well, we got these under control. what we actually had, we had 85 calls for service. up until midnight from 8:00 in the morning to midnight, we had about -- over 170 calls for service. so that taxes our resources. >> so, commissioner, how did all this happen? we've got fires burning out in boulder, colorado, you would expect that. you don't expect to hear something like this in an urban center like detroit. >> well, we had a number of calls for wires down. i think what we just had is the perfect storm as far as fires for us. we had winds up to 49 miles an hour. you combine that with wires down and once we get a fire, the winds take the embers and blow those all around. so that creates that firestorm similar to a forest fire.

>> yeah. i mean, it is surreal to see all of the homes on fire right in the center of a city like detroit. was anybody injured or killed in all of this? >> at this point i have no reports of any civilian injuries or deaths. the men and women of detroit fire department did a great job. and they gave me 120% to put these fires out. >> you have some sense of the degree of loss there, commissioner? we understand that a lot of the buildings were either empty or ba abandoned. >> that's the report. we have not had a chance to go through to see what was occupied or not. the information i have is that there were a number of vacant buildings. >> are there any changes set to take place to prevent this from happening again next time there are high winds? >> you know, at this point, we have an older infrastructure. our power lines are above

ground. until the point where we can get them buried, this is a situation that a lot of older cities run into. >> startling scene there. james mack, thank you for joining us. good luck to new the cleanup efforts there today. >> all right, john. thank you very much. >> thank you. you mentioned the situation in boulder, colorado, as well. they're bat willing they're battling to save homes and forests. the governor declared of state of emergency after the fire more than doubled in size. 92 buildings including homes have been destroyed. it could be days before more than 3,000 people can return to their homes. we're going to be checking in live with casey wyan. he is at the scene. he'll give us an update. and what is left of tropical storm hermine. dumping heavy rain in central and north texas. forecasters say the weather system is going to move into oklahoma tonight.

up to four inches of rain washed out streets in san antonio yesterday. san antonio, just like the famous song. hermine was downgraded to a tropical depression last night. we get a check of the weather's headlines. rob is in the extreme weather center. so it's still doing damage. >> yeah, it s we expect more rain. you know, this thing much weaker than the last hurricane that got the outer banks. this one affecting a lot more people and sticking around longer. sometimes trormz wipical storms do that. more thormdunderstorms and more rain. in some cases we've already seen ten inches. flash flood watches are posted from san antonio to dallas for another six plus inches today. all right. the front that pushed through detroit yesterday to bring in the dry winds heading towards new york and the northeast, a couple of showers and

thunderstorms. windy conditions behind that. so three big news events as far as flooding and fires go, all weather related. one in a very wet environment, another in a very dry and windy environment. of course, very different places but nonetheless, drastic effects by that. we'll talk more about that in a little bit. >> as you point out, tropical storm hermine considered, obviously, a lesser storm and doing more damage than earl. >> and, you know, texas has a history of this, unfortunately. we'll try to get that rain out of there for them today. >> rob, thanks so much. we'll talk you to soon. we're following developments in pakistan this morning. devastating floods there impacting the lives of millions of people. angelina joe lee is in pakistan as part of the u.n. humanitarian mission there. sanjay gupta is going to talk with her. we'll air a portion of that interview in our 8:00 a.m. hour. >> still to come, the president trying to jump-start the economy. he's taking his message on the

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15 minutes past the hour. president obama's on the road today, he's heading for the home of the rock 'n' roll hall of fame. >> he's announcing a plan to try to rock the economy by rolling out billions of dollars in new tax cuts. the white house hoping that it's going to be music to the ears of struggling american business owners. >> ed henry is in cleveland this morning. have we put in enough references to the rock 'n' roll hall of fame? >> reporter: i think you did. you know, i think they're trying to get democrats singing on the same song sheet. bottom line is that white house aides are really trying to push back hard on this notion this is all about politics. and they say it's really about the president trying to rebuild the economy. [ no audio ] this is not a stimulus package or new proposals to show the long-term commitment. but there's no denying they are trying to show a contrast.

let's look at what the president is going to lay out. he's going to talk first of all about a $200 billion tax credit for businesses, writing new plants they build. helping businesses in terms of more research and development and $50 billion in new infrastructure spending. and to the white house's point about how they're looking at this long term, when you read the local papers, it's heartbreaking, unemployment worse here in the state of ohio. people are not able to find a job time and time again. 310,000 people in this state collecting unemployment checks. the biggest number is 60% of those people have been unemployed long term. that means unemployed at least 27 weeks or more. republicans, though, trying to call the white house's bluff and say this is very unlikely to

pass in the next few weeks. so if the president really wanted to fix the economy with the new measures, why didn't he introduce it six months ago when it had a better chance of passage? the white house retort is if the republicans are saying these are popular tax cuts they're ready to support, let's do it in the next couple weeks. and then the argument will be over. >> ed, on a different topic, we hear that the chicago mayor richard daily says he's not running for re-election and is rumblings that rahm emanuel may want to become his honor. what do we know about that? >> reporter: ram he manual is keeping his cards close to the vest. the last thing ram he manual wants to do is look like he is jumping in right away and not giving richard daily his time in the sun here. but when you talk to people close to rahm emanuel, they note he is publicly said before he wants to be mayor. they say privately he still wants to do it. they're not sure if he's going to jump in now. but the smart money in

washington and chicago is that it's very likely he's going to run. the filing deadline is late november. the race is in february. the bottom line he is was going to leave his white house chief of staff in a few months down the road anyway. this may speed up the timetable, if you will, if he does jump in. he hasn't decided yet. the bottom line is this job doesn't open up a lot. richard daley in office for six terms. if you want to be mayor, you better jump in. because this job doesn't open very often, john. >> strike while the iron is hot. all right. ed henry for us in the home of the rock 'n' roll hall of fame this morning. we're going to be joined by david axelrod, the president's senior adviser. we'll ask him about the president's stimulus plan and what about tax cuts, you know, former budget director said leave them in place for a next couple years and then raise taxes on everybody. the white house pushing back against that. are they prepared to veto such a proposal if it comes out of congress? also, mid terms 55 days

away. alaskan senator now reconsidering retirement. you may remember she lost the gop primary in an upset to tea party candidate joe miller. she's been overwhelmed by the outpouring of support and is now considering her options. among them, a possible third party candidacy or a write in bid. >> after the success in alaska, leaders of the tea party express are hoping to continue their winning streak in delawarement they're now backing senate candidate christine o'donnell and launching a six-figure ad campaign. again, for the most political news with the midterm elections approaching, you can always go to cnn.com/ticker. coming up next on the most news in the morning, no shoes, no shirt, no service. we heard that. one restaurant is now saying no screaming kids either. how are they going to enforce it? we're going to take a look coming up. ♪ band: every day you check the weather check the time check the news online ♪

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to manage their global publications. so they can focus on building amazing bikes. with xerox, you're ready for real business. we're minding your business this morning. health care could soon cost you more. "the wall street journal" is reporting this morning that several big insurers are planning to raise health care premiums for some americans by 1% to 9% as a direct result, they say, of health care reform. aetna, blue cross and blue shield are among the companies filing for the increases saying it is the only way it can cover the cost of extra benefits that are now required under the new health care legislation. there's a new item on the menu at a north carolina restaurant that some parents may have a hard time swallowing,

screaming children are no longer welcome at the olde salty restaurant at carolina beach. there are signs warning parents saying they're tired of hearing about screaming kids while they're trying to eat. >> they have a perfect name. >> maybe the airlines could adopt a similar rule. what do you think? >> maybe. >> next, we'll be live with jason carroll in afghanistan with his on going series "a soldier's story." he's been following sergeant shorter as he takes yet another risky tour of duty at a forward operating base in one of the most dangerous parts of that country. what's around the corner is one of life's great questions. and while it can never be fully answered, it helps to have a financial partner like northern trust.

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27 minutes after the hour. this morning, we're giving you an inside look at how troops in afghanistan feel about the dangers that they face every day. it's part of our on going series "a soldier's story." >> we've been following randy shorter in his third tour of duty from forward operating base rushmore. jason carroll sat down with a discussion with our soldiers. how are they feeling these days, jason? >> reporter: well, i have to tell you, they're feeling good. these soldiers have been waiting a long time for this. there were some nerves for those soldiers who were out there for

the first time, their first deployment. even the soldiers said they were ready to get out there and start the mission. as you know, in terms of where they are, they're about an hour, hour and a hoff soualf south of we're here in kabul. their mission is now under way. we were there for the beginning of it. we saw them as they went out on the security patrols. we were with them when they were out there engaging the afghan people, especially some of the children as well as the village elders. and we just -- just before we wrapped up this round of shooting, we had an opportunity to sit down with some of the men in the unit, talk to them about their thoughts on the war and also about this close bond that they all seem to share. >> we are not trying to fight them at all. all we do is protect ourselves. we're just trying to get these people together. you know, get them built up to where they can take care of themselves. >> i think it's the fear of what's going to happen next.

you never know, you know, what's behind that corner, what's going to, you know, just never know what's going to happen. >> you have to understand, too, you know, it's not like a common war. we're fighting guys behind civilian clothes. they're embedded in the population. >> reporter: where do you think the bond between you guys comes from? >> i believe it's sweating with them. you know, you bleed with them, you sweat with them. these are your brothers. like when we're deployed, my problems are their problems. their problems are my problems. we share that among each other. you can't get no tighter than that. >> everybody knows that we're here for each other and we love each other and we know that we're each other's brother. so we understand that. we're going to get mad at times. we're going to get frustrated. but at the endst d of the day, i'm still here. you're still herement we' and w going to make it.

we're together 100%. >> reporter: the deployment will last for about a year which puts them about the same time that this drawback is supposed to happen around july 2011. of course, we'll be following them throughout this year checking in with them from time to time and chronicling their experiences and hopefully letting them share with us what this experience has been like for them. john? >> let's talk about that drawdown. you know, the troops are going out there. they're putting it all on the line. what do they think about the drawdown plan? i would assume they would look forward to going home. are they concerned about what they may leave behind? >> reporter: well, i think it's both. quite frankly, in talking to most of the men in the unit, i think the consensus is that they have concerns about whether or not that drawback is going to be able to happen. as you know, john, one of their

missions is to train the afghan police and army to take over the security reigns here. in terms of how that is going, there is still a ways to go. i think the definite consensus from these guys we spoke to is that may need to stay a little bit longer. >> it's great to hear, you know, from them firsthand so we get a clearer picture of exactly what's going on there. great reporting, jason. thank you. it's 30 minutes past the hour. we check the top stories. the imam behind the islamic center planned near ground zero is speaking out today in a "new york times" editorial. imam f imam feisal abdul rauf said he is prepared to go forward with the plans. the imam sits down with an interview tonight on "larry king live" with soledad o'brien at 9:00. five months after the worst oil spill in u.s. history, bp is

ready to release the results of its own investigation into the disaster. it's expected to come out at 7:00 eastern. we're monitoring the situation. we'll be pouring over the documents as soon as they come out bringing you the details in our next half hour. more than 100 buildings and homes are damaged by a 7,000-acre wildfire near boulder, colorado. right now there are no reports of any injuries. they have several volunteer firefighters battling the flames. these are people that are working to put the fire out at the same time. they've lost their own homes because of it. there is still no estimation of when they'll get this fully under control. they're certainly no stranger to wildfires in the foothills of the rockies. casey wyan is live for us in boulder this morning. >> the firefighters lost their own homes. they're sitting there trying to battle these flames. do people understand it's the price you pay for living in this location? >> reporter: absolutely. i think they do.

colorado's governor bill ritter spoke to some of the people yesterday. he warned residents to be patient because of this wildfire in the hills. you can smell the smoke. some of the residents are very anxious and concerned. they're learning that they're not going to have homes to return to. steve and dee spencer built their home in the colorado mountain community of sunshine 25 years ago. >> it's 2400 square feet, three bedroom, two bathroom, and we built it. we designed it ourselves. >> reporter: today, it lives only in their camera, reduced to ashes by colorado's wildfire. >> the sun was orange and obscured. there is a really weird light from the fire in frontst son. >> very spooky. >> it was all smokey. >> reporter: there's never a good time to lose your house. but this is particularly bad for the spencers.

>> i was working on a deck because we were landscaping and building an outdoor setting for our son's wedding which, you know, is a week and a half from now. >> the reception dinner was going to be at our house. >> reporter: then came the reverse 911 call instructing the spencers to evacuate. >> we very casually packed up the important things that we value which turned out wasn't very much. we would have packed more. >> we kind of thought they were going to go back. >> reporter: when did you find out that your house was in trouble? >> last night. one of our neighbors called and said she had a call from somebody who stayed in sunshine and had a walked and saw the house burned to the ground. >> it still feels really surreal. >> until we have visual confirmation by us, it's hard to sink in. >> reporter: that may take days. >> let's go see our new house. >> reporter: the spencers already are looking for a local house to rent, one with space for their son's wedding

reception. >> both of our sons said, you know, we have each other and our family is safe. we're close. so it's important. >> our youngest son who is a junior in college, when we called him last night to tell him the house burned down, he paused and said, bummer. >> reporter: for every end there is a new beginning. i don't want to diminish all the joy of this marriage because, you know, a couple special people who found love and are going to celebrate that. that's what we're going to focus on. >> reporter: clearly, it's early. the spencers say they do plan to rebuild. but this time a more fireproof house. they do have fire insurance. so hopefully the financial hit should not be too severe. john? >> as long as you have insurance, i guess you can rebuild. you have to feel for the firefighters throughout who are on the fire lines, putting their life on the line and working so hard. and they've lost their homes

themselves. >> reporter: yeah, you really do. it's fortunate there have been no serious injuries among those firefighters or among the residents who live in those hills because the people who went through it say that the wind was whipping up so fast and the fire was moving quickly. they're used to brush fires in this area. but they're used to it going to the top of a hill and stopping. they say this fire crested over the hills and was really moving faster than anything they've seen in decades. >> exhausting work, unpredictable and, boy, hats off to them for everything they're trying to do there to help that community. casey, thanks. also the homeowners, what a good attitude. >> pragmatic, i guess. >> and see the silver lining in that. coming up next, we've been talking about the growing anti-islam sentiment here in the u.s., the debate over the ground zero mosque. now word that a small kang gas station in florida plans to burn the koran. well, there is an emergency

meeting with attorney general eric holder and leaders of many different faiths. we'll talk to two people at that meeting. was anything solved? what are some of the ideas moving forward to bridge this gap? 36 minutes past the hour. ♪ [car horn honks] our outback always gets us there... ... sometimes it just takes us a little longer to get back. ♪ to finish what you started today. for the aches and sleeplessness in between, there's new motrin pm. no other medicine, not even advil pm, is more effective for pain and sleeplessness. new motrin pm.

welcome back to "the most news in the morning." political and religious leaders are uniting to denounce a waive of anti-muslim sentiment we've seen in the united states. they're outraged over the plans by a florida pastor to burn copies of the kurroccu koran on. secretary of state hill hill hi hillary clinton expressed her feelings. >> i'm heartened by the clear condemnation of this disrespectful, disgraceful act. our commitment to religious tolerance goes back to the very beginning of our nation.

>> meantime, attorney general eric holder met with muslim as well as christian, jewish, interfaith leaders to address the anti-islamic sentiment. two people at the meeting join us now from washington. we have the executive director of muslim advocates and right by her side is reverend dr. welton gady. thank you for being with us this morning. >> glad to be with you. >> this is characterized as an emergency meeting called, you know, bringing people together because of the concerns of this growing anti-islamic sentiment in the united states. why did you attend? what do you think you got out of it? >> so what we've been hearing in the american muslim community has been deeply troubling. frankly, on the level of fear and anxiety that we're hearing in the community is unprecedented. we're hearing from people, parents who are concerned about their school -- about their children going off to school. people are concerned about even just attending prayer services. later this week, actually,

muslims celebrate the most significant holidays of the year in which literally hundreds of muslims will be packing into mosques across the country to celebrate through religious services. and so we thought it was important to speak directly to the attorney general and as the nation's chief law enforcement officer, it was important for the attorney general to send a very strong, clear message that hate motivated violence will not be tolerated, it will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. i must say i was incredibly comforted by the attorney general's words. and we're encouraging him to send a message that he gave to us privately to do so in a very, very public way. >> and reverend gady, what did you get out of yesterday's meeting? >> well, i got the feeling of affirmation from the attorney general that there really is and should be a partnership between the religious community and the

department of justice and the government in dealing with a very, very serious crisis. the attorney general said it best, i think, when he said this may be the civil rights issue for our generation. we will define ourselves as a nation in relation to how we respond to this crisis of religious diversity. there's a legal side of it and there is a moral side of it. the department of justice is clearly ready to keep on addressing the legal side. we're trying to get at the attitude part of it. and for one thing regarding what's happening in florida, for example, this isn't either good patriotism nor go religion. this is just old fashioned hate. >> you mentioned what's happening in florida. i'd like to get your take on this. we spoke yesterday to pastor jones. he's the one that has a small congregation that is planning on burning the koran on 9/11.

we heard general petraeus speaking out gns this and hillary clinton and attorney general holder. how concerned are you that the actions of this small congregation could have huge worldwide implications as people react and respond to these images? >> right. well, look, we're very concerned about the planned activity. first, you know, we certainly recognize that while it may not be a violation of the law, it certainly violates our sense of decency. i think all americans would agree that it's really not the right thing to do, to desecrate a sacred text. the way this activity might incite hate and violence against american muslims. again, that is why it was so important to hear directly from the attorney general saying that really no american should have to live in fear to have to --

and all america should be able to worship without fear. you know, i might add, you know, i actually grew up in a small town in upstate new york, not too far from where one of the recent hate acts took place recently. and, you know, in the america i grew up in, my family and i could worship freely. unfortunately today that, is not the case. with this rise in anti-muslim bigotry and hate violence taking place across the country, it's really time for all people to come together and that is why i'm so pleased at reverend gaddy and a number of muslim and christian and jewish leaders are coming together. it's incumbent of all americans of good faith and conscious to come together and speak up. >> you're right. and it's great that we saw this take place. reverend gaddy, as a christian leader, how do you counter the messages and the potential images that we may be seeing if,

indeed this congregation goes forward with this koran burning? >> two or three messages have to go out. one of them is a message that has to go out across the international community. fortunately yesterday i had a chance to talk on arabic television to people in the middle east. i said, look this is not about american patriotism. we don't encourage this in america. this is not about christianity or judaism or any of the other religions that have their home here in the united states. in fact, it runs counter to it. and in the united states, what we're saying is this is not the nature of the historic religions. it's not essential in their script scriptures. we need to remember in this land that religion thrived because of the first amendment to the constitution and the freedom

people have to go and worship in safety. an attack on any religion in this nation is, in fact, an attack on every religion in this nation and we've got to counter that. >> and this is where it gets hairy. also the freedom also includes the right of pastor jones and members of his congregation to burn the koran. >> right. and the same rights allow people to burn the american flag. but i think just as we find burning the american flag abhorrent, i think most americans find desecrating holy texts abhorrent as well. and that is why we are so pleased that reverend gaddy and so many americans are increasingly making their voices heard on this issue. >> we have been through this before. let's remember that. we didn't do well in handling judaism when it came to this country. we didn't do well with

catholicism. we have to counter this. if we counter it solidly, we will eventually work our way through this. >> as you say, it could be the civil rights issue of our time. thank you both for joining us. thanks. >> thank you. >> thank you. still to come this morning, rob marciano is monitoring severe weather in several parts of the country. he has this morning's travel forecast right after the break. it looks nothing like pam anderson. this device named emily could be patrolling and rescuing swimmers at a beach near you. the pollen that used to make me sneeze... my eyes water. but now zyrtec®, the fastest 24-hour allergy relief, comes in a liquid gel. zyrtec® liquid gels work fast, so i can love the air®.

tropical storm hermine j yesterday coming on shore. this is san antonio. lawn furniture going into the pool there. yeah. as far inland as san antonio, wind and rain damage. this reminding me of tropical storm aaron back in 2007. look at this. the thing still hasn't moved much. it hasn't moved out of texas just yet. you see that rotation. you also see a fair amount of moisture being tapped from the gulf of mexico. so in some areas, we have seen over ten inches of rainfall. and some of the cell that's are percolating from the gulf in through austin and up the i-35 corridor towards dallas and across the red river, some are heavy producers as far as rainfall goes. on top of what we've already seen, we could see another six inches in this area. so flash flood watches in the red areas. those counties in the bigger cities are under a flash flood

warning currently for some smaller rivers up and over their banks. wind and some dry air across parts of the northeast. red flag warning up for philadelphia. we have the damaging winds across detroit. and a couple days ago we had damaging winds in boulder, colorado. this front looks like it's coming through for the most part dry, hence the red flag warning. you may see a thunderstorm or two. as far as temperatures, looking at lower 80s in st. louis. 85 degrees in new york and 82 degrees in d.c. that's a quick check on weather. nice calculator. i'm just trying to save money on my car insurance. you know, with progressive, you get the option to name your price. is that even possible? uh, absolutely. trade? and i still get great service? more like super great. oh, you have a message. "hello." calculator humor. i'll be here all week. i will -- that was my schedule. the freedom to name your price. now, that's progressive. call or click today. [ slap! ]

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imagination and reality have merged. because of one word, a new generation-- a fifth generation-- of fighter aircraft has been born. because of one word, america's air dominance for the next forty years is assured. that one word... is how. a new robotic device is getting figuretive feet wet in california. the drone nicknamed em sli designed to assist in water rescues and a whole lot more. ga gary tuchman takes emily out

for a swim in today's "edge of discovery." >> reporter: this lifeguard might be the best on the beach. her name, emily, which stands for emergency integrated life saving lanyard. >> it enables a rescue. >> directed from shore by a remote control. when she reaches swimmers in distress, they can hold on to her until more help arrives. creators are working on a setup that will allow lifeguards to talk to swimmers through an onboard pa system. >> we worked on having a radio to send emily out to stand away from this. you're in danger. >> reporter: and not all this bay watching bot may do. she may be attached with sonar or be used for military

surveillance. emily is still being tested. it could be a while before can you check her out at a beach near you. gary tuchman, cnn. >> that is a great idea. >> pretty cool, right? >> she just goes right out there. so if somebody is, you know, 100 feet, 100 yards from shore in trouble, zang. 15 seconds. >> and then join them later. >> fantastic. >> i feel safer. we have your top stories coming up. no, i've actually lost weight... [ female announcer ] over 30 delicious flavors at around 100 calories each. [ wife ] babe... i gotta go. [ female announcer ] yoplait, it is so good.

controversy over the man behind an islamic cultural center and mosque blocks from new york city's ground zero is breaking silence promising the project will not stop. financial backers identified and tonight he speaks exclusively with cnn. good morning. thanks for joining us on this wednesday, the 8th of september.

we're going to have more on the imam and the ground zero mosque in a moment. first, other top stories this morning. it's the economy. president obama's $350 billion plan to stimulate the economy is going to be rolled out in cleveland today. the white house is not calling it a stimulus. republicans, of course, panning it. we're going to hear from the president himself. ten minutes from now, we'll hear from his top adviser about why he thinks this approach will work when similar attempts have seemed to fail. >> more than 7,000 acres are burning outside of boulder, colorado. the governor declared a state of emergency. close to 100 buildings burned to the ground and koiit could be d before people can return home. bp getting ready to release the results of its own investigation into the cause behind the oil spill. the report due to come out any moment any moment now. we're monitoring the situation. we'll check in for a live report in a couple minutes. of course, the amfix blog is

up and running. we have two controversies going on involving the u.s. and muslim worlds. one happening in new york and one in florida. >> each promises to ignite and enflame intense reaction. we're three days away now from observing the september 11th attacks. the man behind the controversial islamic center blocks from ground zero is breaking his silence. he's speaking out this morning in an op-ed in "the new york times." he reports that the islamic center will go on as planned. >> also in florida, a pastor of a small church is still planning to burn copies of the koran this weekend. he's talking about general petraeus' comments that his book burning will put more americans in harm's way. we're going to hear from him. >> first to the imam faisal abdul raw ra you've addressing the controversy in a "new york times" op-ed this morning. he writes, "we are proceeding

with the community center. more important, we are doing so with the support of the community, government at all levels and leaders from across the religious spectrum. as i travelled overseas i saw firsthand how their words and actions made a tremendous impact on the muslim street and muslim leaders. it was striking, a christian president, a jewish mayor supporting the rights of muslims. the statement sent a powerful message about what america stands for and will be remembered as a milestone in immovii improving american-muslim relations." we take a look at the imam. >> reporter: if you never heard him speak this is what imam feisal abdul rauf has to say. >> the major theme in islam is the oneness of god. and that we should worship one god, love and adore the one guide. >> reporter: people say he's a

voice of moderation. the state department. >> his work on tolerance and religious diversity is well known. >> reporter: the developer of the controversial islamic center near ground zero. >> he is somebody who has sacrificed his life to building bridges within communities. >> reporter: islamic scholar and university professor john esposito. how you would describe him? is he a threat? >> feisal, is from my point of view, he is mr. mellow. >> reporter: imam feisal is a muslim. >> he approaches islam spiritually. he is a sufian background which means one pursues, if you will, a more kind of spiritual, mystical path. he is somebody who would find terrorism and religious extremism as abhorrent. he's run a mosque in this area for years and years and years. >> reporter: that mosque is ten blocks from ground zero and has

co-existed peacefully for 28 years. >> he is integrated himself into the community. >> reporter: according to his biography, feisal abdul rauf was born in kuwait in 1948 in a family steeped in religious scholarship. in 1997, he founded the nonprofit american society for muslim advancement. its mission described on the website "streenen iam harmony through interfaith collaboration, youth, and women's empowerment." several years later, rauf founded an institute to improve relations between the muslim world and the west, writing how american muslims can help bridge the divide. the state department noticed, sending him as a cultural ambassador on four trips to the middle east, most recently this summer. >> they tried to get people who reflect the best aspects of american societies.

>> reporter: rauf is often asked to speak at meetings like the world economic forum in davos. he was criticized for saying u.s. support of repressive regimes is partly responsible for the attacks on 9/11, but maintained his remarks on "60 minutes" had been taken out of context. rauf supports israel's right to exist but says as a bridge builder, he can't condemn hamas as terrorists. as for the proposed islamic center and mosque near ground zero, he says that, too, is about bridges. >> this is also our expression of the 99.999% of muslims all over the world, including in america who have condemned and continue to condemn terrorism. this is about our stand as the muslim community. >> reporter: but right now this moderate muslim cleric finds himself at the eye of a storm. cnn, new york.

imam feisal abdul rauf will be on "larry king live" tonight at 9:00 eastern right here on cnn. if you want to submit a video question for the imam, there is still time to do it. the dead shrine today at noon. go to cnn.com/ireport. to florida there and the controversy over a small church pastor's plans to burn copies of the koran on 9/11. terry jones is the pastor of the dove world outreach center. they have 50 members. you may remember i questioned him yesterday about this whole issue. he said that he was still praying about it and the only way he'll back down is if god tells him to. last night he seemed to get a bit more strident in his intentions, firing back at comments by general david petraeus who said that burning islam's holy book will put american troops in danger. >> right now i have plans to continue. we are thinking about it. we are praying about it. as i said, we are taking his

concerns very seriously. the general needs to point his finger to radical islam and tell them to shut up. tell them to stop. tell them that we will not bow our knees to them. we are burning a book. we are not killing someone. we're not murdering people. >> well, there are more high profile leaders weighing in on this controversy this morning. new york mayor michael bloomberg in this morning's "wall street journal" writing "i'm here to defend his right to do that. i think it is distasteful but the first amendment protects everybody. you can't say we're going to apply the first amendment to only those cases where we are in agreement." however, members of the obama administration are coming out against the plan. attorney general eric holder calling the koran burning "idiotic" and secretary of state hillary clinton saying she is glad so many leaders from all faiths are saying they're against this plan to burn the koran. >> i am heartened by the clear,

unequivocal condemnation of this disrespectful, disgraceful act. our commitment to religious tolerance goes back to the very beginning of our nation. >> and secretary clinton echoed general petraeus' comments that burning the koran would endanger our troops. to politics now. later on today the president is going to deliver a big speech in cleveland. he'll be detailing a new plan to kick start the economy and create jobs. the stakes are high. so is the pricetag. $350 billion. we're told we'll be seeing a more personal side of the president when he speaks this afternoon. here now with a preview is david axelrod, the senior adviser to president obama. he joins us live from the white house briefing room. thank you so much for being with us. let me ask you first of all, david, before we get into the -- excuse me. you would mind not doing that while i'm talking? thank you. i appreciate that. if you don't mind. >> david if, i koshgs just terry

jones and this koran burning that is planned for september 11th, what does the president think about that? does the president -- is he as concerned about it as other members of his administration are? >> well, sure. john, look, the reverend may have the right to do what he's doing. but it's not right. it's not consistent with our values. you know, i'm someone who came to this -- i'm an american because my father came to this country after his home was blown up because of the faith his family practiced. and his family came to america because this is a -- this was place of religious freedom. it made us the envy of the world. we ought to protect -- protect those values beyond which it jeopardizes our security as general petraeus spoke to yesterday. so the president, i would join all the other leaders who have spoken out to denounce that plan. >> do you expect -- he said he'll only back down if god tells him to. do you expect that the 11th hour

he's going to receive a message from god who will tell him not to go ahead and do this? >> i am not in a position to judge his communications with the almighty. i hope his conscience and good sense will take hold. this is not the right thing to do. it's not good for our country. it's not consistent with our values. if can you burn the holy book of one faith, one day you can burn the holy book of another faith the next. we ought to be promoting religious tolerance, not shredding it. >> now let's go to the president's economic plan that he's going to unveil this afternoon, specifically this $50 billion infrastructure revitalization plan. someone says it's a good idea, much too small and not going to pass anyway. what do you say to that? >> i think he's wrong on all counts. first of all, what we're talking about is front loading a larger six-year surface transportation program.

so this will be the beginning of the program. and we believe that it will allow us to rebuild hundreds of thousands of miles of roads, of railways, of runways and jump-start the construction industry in this country which has been the hardest hit in this recession. so we -- and i also believe because there's been bipartisan support in the past for the surface transportation program that we can get support in the future. maybe not in the next two months because we can't, you know, we've had a hard time even getting tax cuts for small businesses passed by the republicans and the senate have held it up with procedural maneuvers. but ultimately, i think the public will demand and the congress will accede the republicans in congress to ideas that will help move this economy forward. >> one of the other big issues on the table there are the bush tax cuts which are set to expire at the end of this year and what to do about them. the president will argue today

they should expire for the wealthiest americans but stay in place for middle income americans. peter orzag said this, "higher taxes would crimp consumer spending, further depressing the inadequate demand for what firms are capable of producing at full tilt." he says, "a better idea is leave them in place for a couple years and then eliminate the tax cuts for everybody." what do you say to that? >> first of all, you have to go back and read the top of peter's column. what he said is he would prefer if we didn't move forward on the tax cuts for higher income people. he didn't think they were useful. he thought we might have to in order to get them passed. he was offering a legislative strategy on substance. what we need are the middle class tax cuts. the middle class has taken it -- taken the hardest hit in the last ten years. not just in the recession, but before that under policies that saw their income flat line. and so we need to do what we can to propel the middle class. one thing that the president is going to talk about is that the

middle class is the heartbeat of our economy. if you don't have a healthy middle class, you won't have the sustained growth you need. we'll fight for that. as for the upper income tax cuts, what we're talking about is a $700 billion borrowing essentially over the next ten years to give a tax cut almost entirely to millionaires and billion airs. more than half of that tax cut go to people who make $8 million a year or more. >> sure. >> we don't have the money for that. >> and that point has been made several times f congress were to come forward with a plan, leaving the tax cuts in place for a period of time, would the president veto it? >> look, the president's made his position absolutely clear. he believe that's we should move forward. he's not going to support. he's not going to support -- >> but would he veto that? >> if it includes a permanent extension of the high income tax cut, he absolutely would. because we don't have $700 billion to spend on tax cuts for

people who don't need them and weren't asking for them. we have to help the middle class, move our economy forward, deal with the deficits that exploded under the last administration. and get our economy back on track. and that's what we're about the business of doing. >> all right. david axelrod, thanks for joining us this morning. we look forward to the speech later on today. and when the president delivers the remarks on the economy this afternoon, cnn is the only place to be. we'll bring it you to live beginning at 2:10 p.m. eastern time. we told you this report was going to come out during the course of our show. we're just getting the breaking news that bp released its findings. we have several people pouring through it right now to get you the latest on what bp thinks was behind the largest oil spill we've seen. meantime, we're also heading to pakistan where actress angelina jolie brings the plight to millions there on the world stage. she is a u.n. good will ambassador. she toured the flood ravaged region and spent a lot of time talking to the afghan refugees.

she also visited with aid workers and talked to them about their need for food and medicine. we're going to hear from her coming up, within the hour, sanjay gupta just returned from pakistan. he'll be talking to jolie via satellite. and like, jolie watched sanjay tell one heartbreaking story after another about the flood victims. we'll hear some of their discussion about what needs to be done. that's coming up in an hour here. thousands of people in colorado are out of homes this morning. a massive 7,000-acre wildfire is taking over boulder county. it taxed every resource available to try to contain it. we're going to tell you why some firefighters have even more reason to worry about what's going on there. where banks competed to save me a boatload of money on my mortgage, that would be awesome. sure, like that'll happen. don't just think about it --

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18 minutes after the hour, breaking news. bp releasing the results of its internal investigation moments ago. the oil giant spreading blame around five months after an oil rig explosion triggered the worst oil spill in u.s. history. bp questioning decisions made by "multiple companies and work teams for the catastrophe." we're pouring over the report right now. we'll check in with our reporter at the bottom of the hour for more. the wildfire that's burning out of control right now outside of boulder, colorado, is still causing problems this morning as they work to try to get control of it in some way. the governor declaring a state

of emergency after it doubled in size. 92 buildings now, including homes have been destroyed. some of them actually belong to the firefighters themselves who were trying to put this thing out. it could be days more before 3,000 people can return to their home. we get a check of this morning's weather headlines. rob marciano, we talk about how the firefighters need the help of mother nature. what's it going to be like for them today as they're out there trying to fight this thing? >> they had a nice break from wind yesterday. it will get more windy today. the winds at the peak when that fire happened were gusting over 40 miles an hour and the dew points just sunk like a rock. unbelievably dry. kind of similar weather in detroit when the fires broke out yesterday. that front is moving towards the east. so it will be dry and windy in parts of jersey and new york city throughout the day to day. red flag warning actually posted for the philadelphia area and surrounding area. i can't get enough dry air into the texas area. this is tropical storm hermine

which -- well, it's not a tropical storm anymore, but it's dumping tropical storm-like rain from san antonio through dallas. some of these areas have already seen ten inches of rainfall. we could see another six as this continues to dump -- take moisture from the gulf of mexico and dump it from san antonio up to oklahoma city. so flash flood watches and warnings posted for this area. this is a serious situation until we get this rain out of here. doesn't look like it's moving all too quickly. so we'll continue to monitor this and, of course, detail a little bit more for new 30 minutes. >> rob, thanks. he was a darling of the tea party. now that marco rubio is running for a u.s. senate seat in florida, some say his positions are softening a bit leaving some to wonder if the tea party can make end roads in swing states. our jim acosta is joining us live with more coming up.

23 minutes past the hour. welcome back. marco rubio has been declared one of a darlings of tea party. now he's running for the u.s. senate in florida, some say his positions appear to be softening. the big question is can the tea party ever prevail in a key swing state like florida? jim acosta is live in washington

for us this morning. so it's interesting when we talked about all the tea party candidates, it almost seems like marco rubio is on the bubble. why is that? >> reporter: well, you know, things are changing down in florida pretty quickly. you know, for months marco rubio appeared to be in the driver's seat in the race for the u.s. senate in florida. his conservative message had activists in the tea party movement lining up. but that race has gotten more complicated. raising the question of whether rubio will move to the middle of the road to win. >> every generation of american has had a great clalg to face. >> reporter: for marco rubio, times were simpler when it was tea time all the time. >> this reckless out of control expansion of government, it simply goes too far. >> reporter: this year there were cups of tea at his side -- >> the next united states senator, marco rubio. >> reporter: and conservative tea party activists at his feet. >> i've been hearing about the tea parties for a while. >> reporter: rubio's run to the

right forced the more moderate republican of california out of the race for the nomination for u.s. senate. but with this context now a three-way battle featuring crist as a moderate and the former state house speaker is taking his tea differently these days. >> the reason why he wants the aircraft misslz to shoot down israeli and american planes. >> reporter: he hired a team of consultants who allowed us to watch him run on president obama's foreign policy. >> i think it's failed mizerbly. >> reporter: and the son of cuban exiles is distancing himself from tea partiers on one of the movement's key issues, arizona's tough immigration law. >> the original law allowed for racial profiling. the language in the original law allowed for ethnic profiling. they changed that, to their credit. a week later they passed a bill that changed that. >> reporter: and you're comfortable for it? >> for arizona, i am. i don't think the arizona bill should serve as a model for the

rest of the country. >> reporter: most tea party members still like rubio. are you worried he'll change if he gets to washington? >> definitely. when you send a politician or candidate to d.c., you wonder if you're going to get the same guy back. >> reporter: there is a difference with you and them? >> i represent the things i stand for. >> reporter: rubio has good reason to be his own man. he's watched cris surge in the polls. >> at the end of the day, there's only one party i work for. >> reporter: the governor recently stumbled on the issue of president obama's saying he was for it before he was saying he was against it. >> there are parts that i support and parts i take issue with. that's the beauty of being an independent candidate. had i been there, i would have voted against it. >> reporter: crist declined to talk to us. then there is kendrick meek who is trying to fend off crist's appeal to democrats. >> he is undefineable in this race. and that's -- that has an expiration date on it.

and that date is coming. >> reporter: and that leads to perhaps the most fascinating side show in this circus. the tea party and democrats have a common mission, to beat charlie crist. >> america doesn't need to be changed. they need to be fixed. we think both political parties are to be blamed. that sentiment found the expression through the tea party movement. i'm proud that people that feel that way are supporting our candidacy, i am. >> reporter: who would have thought that tea party and democrats would have found something in common. they don't like charlie crist. one of the biggest worries is that marco rubio will be another scott brown. remember senator brown had tea party support up in massachusetts before he got to washington and started voting a few time with the democrats. not to fear, says rubio, who is set to speak at a tea party rally down in florida later this month. >> so how tight are the polls? is crist gaining a lot? >> you know, there were some polls about a month that showed

crist beating marco rubio in this race. things have changed a little bit. crist had a couple of stumbles. you saw that health care stumble. and the polls moved more in r rubio's direction. kendrick meek is going to run a very aggressive campaign. he faced a tough primary for the democratic nomination. he had $20 million spent by his opponent and kendrick meek still won. he'll have president obama and bill clinton campaigning for him. >> not over until it's over. >> not overs in it will over. >> jim acosta for us this morning. thanks. >> you bet. continuing coverage of this morning's breaking news. bp releasing the results of its own investigation of the oil spill in the gulf just minutes ago. our reporter going over the document as we speak. a live report from him and the oil giant's findings. 50 milpromise. it's a ya schemaintee

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time for a look at this morning's top stories. the imam behind the controversial plans to build an islamic center near ground zero is breaking his silence today. he says the construction will go

forward. he also says he's convinced it's the right thing to do. he'll tell cnn why tonight he's speaking exclusively on "larry king live," 9:00 p.m. and president obama heading to cleveland in just a few hours. he's going to make the case there for his plan to jump-start the economy, including expanded business tax cuts in infrastructure spending. the president will also reinforce his position against extending buescher are a tax cuts for the wealthiest 2% of families. next, bob schrum and david frumm on the president's speech. and nancy pelosi is unpopular. that according to a new cnn opinion research poll out this morning. it finds that 51% of americans have an unfavorable opinion of pelosi. that may put her among the lowest of all democrats in washington today. but the speaker's not alone. she still polls better than sarah palin, former president george w. bush and is only six points behind the president. breaking news now.

five months after an oil rig explosion are triggered a massive still in the gulf of mexico, bp is releasing results of the internal investigation into the disaster. the oil giant spreading the blame around, questioning decisions made by "multiple companies and work teams for the catastrophe." we're live from dallas this morning. ed, there's plenty of blame to go around in this bp report. what else does it say? >> reporter: well, that's clearly the way bp sees it right now. if you're looking for heavy reading here this morning, try the 193-page report that bp has just released, part of the four-month investigation into what caused the explosion on the deepwater horizon rig. as you mentioned, quickly out of the gate in the summaries, in the press releases that they are providing, bp is, quickly kind of shouldering the blame among three different companies, transocean, the company that owned the deepwater horizon rig and halliburton, the company that cemented the well. initially bp in its

investigation says that the cement essentially wasn't done properly. so they placed a lot of blame on halliburton right out of the gate on there. in fact, in the initial summary of their findings so far, they point out that they point to eight things. just one time does bp mention that its own crew members failed to read properly the pressure test that's were done in the hours before the rig exploded. so clearly, there will be a lot of opinions floating around throughout the day as more people kind of sift through this 193-page report, massive kind of product that bp has put out here this morning. the report itself plus a video which is almost 30 minutes long. so we'll continue to sift through all of this as well. one other interesting thing, they do say that they have kind of perhaps pinpointed the cause of the explosion. they say as the oil and gas was making its way into the oil rig itself, that that gas mixture had perhaps gotten into the ventilation system inside the deepwater horizon rig and made

its way into the engine room which would have been the spark that caused the explosion and 11 people to die. we'll continue to sift through all of this. there's a lot to sift through, as you might imagine, and make sense of what bp is putting out this morning. >> that's a long report. all right. we'll continue to dig down in this this morning. ed, thanks so much. a thai airways plane is cleared to leave los angeles airport. passengers were rescreened after someone strcribbled a message o an airport mirror. the plane was searched and, again, the fbi is looking into this incident. angelina jolie tours pakistan to encourage flood relief. she spent most of her time speaking to some of the afghan refugees affected by the disaster. but she also visited with aid workers about their needs for food and medicine. within the hour, sanjay gupta

who just returned from pakistan himself is talking to jolie via satellite. she watched him tell one heartbreaking story after another about the flood disaster. hear their discussion at 8:20 eastern. 55 days to go until the midterms. republicans stand to make significant gains, shifting the balance of power in the house of representatives. do democrats have enough time to turn the tide? if republicans take control, what's their plan to make the economy better? we're going to be speaking about this with bob schrum and david frum in just a moment. [ female announcer ] when you're living

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astrazeneca may be able to help. fnchts the latest polls are right, there could be a republican takeover in november. the gop needs 39 seats to seize control of the house from the democrats. the cook political report which predicts a lot of this says republicans could net 40 seats. another big heather of how these elections turn out upping the predictions as well that the gop could gain 37 to 42 seats. and even higher than 50 on the outside. it's a grim picture for democrats. is it totally accurate? is it too late to reverse the fortune if it is? joining us, bob shrum, columnist at "ttheweek.com. and we have david frum, senior

adviser to george w. bush. david, the numbers seem fantastic for republicans. do you believe it? >> i do believe it. they represent what's going on now. now the democrats can make a bit of a difference if they do a good turnout in the vote drive and make sure that some of the disaffected alienated voters do make it to the polls. the likely voter numbers are very favorable to republicans. on the other hand, this is probably a moment when intensity runs very strong. 60 days is some time. people, though, have made up their minds. this economy is terrible. the president had $800 billion to fix it, $100,000 for every person who lost their job in the first quarter of 2009. not a lot of improvement. >> bob, 54 days left. you don't think it's going to be as bad, right? you think the predictions might be high for the gop? >> i think it will be close. i think that to use the word tsunami reminds me of the predictions about hurricane earl last week.

it was going to level the east coast. look, david is right. the economy is bad. democrats are paying the price for that. there is an enthusiasm gap. the president can energize democratic voters. i think the most important story of the day is the decision to take on the bush tax cuts for the wealthy. i think the president ought to do that, ought to have a big fight about that as harry truman would have done. go a step further and say the treasury is not going to keep this monday. we're going to give this money on a temporary additional tax cut to middle class people so we can help move this question. let the republicans then be the party of tax cuts for the privilege and the democrats be the privilege of the tax cuts for people. >> democrats are saying i don't know if i could go back to the congressional district and support repealing tax cuts. >> there is not a single piece of data that i've seen. i defy anybody to show me one that says there is majority support or anywhere near majority support for the bush tax cuts for the top 2%. this isn't about that. the -- this is not about the tax cuts for the middle class. this is about what's going to

happen with that $700 billion that will go to the wealthiest 2% of this country if we don't do something about it? let's give that temporarily for the next two years for the middle class. then let's use it to reduce the deficit. >> would that have you worried if that was the tact that your democratic challengers were taking? >> from every indication, that's not what the president is going to do. it sounds like what he is going to do is take the low risk option. he is going to endorse a six-year cement mixing rollout. >> we just heard from david axelrod. john talked to him. he said the president would veto permanent tax cuts for permanent extensionst bush tax cuts for the wealthiest income earners. >> the question is what will the president do? the economy is stuck. we do not have liftoff. what will the president do next? and we've been hearing some trial balloons in advance of the president's next statement about what he's interested in. he's interested in a six-year infrastructure project for $50 billion. that sounds like a lot of money over six years. it's really not.

it will be rolled out in time for his re-election, not for this one. and he's interested in some kind of acceleration of write off for invest chment is a good anti-recessionary measure. something that is not going to have a lot of immediate effect for a lot of people. he seems to be backing away from the big ambitious ideas of a payroll tax cut and other kinds of concepts like those that bob was mentioning a moment ago. >> bob, i do want to ask you about this. you said really the key to possibly bridge the enthusiasm gap involves getting the president to talk about this. but there is a new poll that just posted last night showing that 30% of people only, only 30% of people think that economy has gotten better under the president's economic programs. vast majority of people think it had no effect or got worse. how do you fight that? >> i don't think you adjudicate whether or not the economy has gotten better. if you tell people that it has, even though it probably has, it's a lot better than it would have been. you're not going to win that. people care about what's going on in their own lives.

and david is right about something. the fact is people don't march to the polls chanting r & d tax cuts. the president has to give folks a reason to be energized and a reason to care. and that's why he needs a battle along divided ideological lines, much as ronald reagan did in 1982 when he stood up. he said stay the course. he organized for conservative values. when the economy finally came back, he was able to start a conservative era in this country. the big challenge for the president is not to take the safe approach but to go out there and fight and fight hard on clear dividing lines. >> david, let's say the best case scenario does happen for the gop. they get control of the house. they're now at least running one aspect of what is going on there. what is the biggest collusion that they have to offer for getting us out of this economic ditch? >> the best case scenario is take the house and senate. i think the republican -- the best republican idea is the payroll tax holiday. it costs $40 billion a month and a forgone revenues.

you can do a year and a half of it for less than the stimulus. it puts money in people's pocket. you can increase the deficit, creating more money to flow through the economy. so that would be a powerful idea. accelerated business depreciation, the things that the president is talking about at the last hour. those are good ideas. and extend the bush tax cuts for another period. the soon to be speaker boehner -- >> you're already celebrating, david. i think you have to wait for november. >> he's been talking about them for two years, maybe five. give pim certainty about what happens. >> we'll bring him back if it's not the case. okay. don't worry, bob. all right, david and bob, great to talk to you as always. thanks for joining us. when the president delivers his remarks on the economy from cleveland this afternoon, cnn is, of course, the place to be. we'll bring it you to live, 2:10

eastern time this afternoon. it's going to be from the west campus of a community college. >> what's that fish in your sushi? the plan that could have fishermen in lab coats catching your next salmon. and texas still getting soaked from hermine. the rest of the country looking nice. rob has this morning's travel forecast after the break. [v:tv]c [panting]

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we want to show you a live picture right now this is sanjay gupta speaking with angelina jolie. he is in atlanta just returning from a very long trip to pakistan where he witnessed the plight of thousands of flood victims. angelina jolie is there now speaking to sanjay. we'll turn around that interview and bring it to you. >> you won't find it swimming anywhere. a new fish could be coming to

your local supermarket. the food and drug administration is preparing to hold public hearings on genetically engineered salmon. >> so even if it is deemed safe to eat, not everyone's convince the they would want to. senior medical correspondent elizabeth cohen joins us live in new york today. you know, there's a big push among a big push among organic groups that say this is not genetically modified. they make a big label on the front of their packaging. if it is salmon, how the heck did they do this? >> i learned something about salmon doing this story. salmon have growth hormone in their bodies part of the year but not all of the year. what scientistis they took a gene from a different fish, put it into the salmon so they growth hormone all year around. here is the result. instead of taking 16 months to get to maturity -- sorry. instead of taking 30 months to get to maturity it takes them 16 to 18 months to get to maturity.

you can see the obvious business advantage there. it takes half the time to reach maturity. if you are growing salmon that's a good thing. >> it sounds good on the surface. what's the objection to all of this? >> the objection is what does it mean to our bodties eat salmon that's been exposed to growth hormone all year round instead of just some of the months of the year. what's that do to us? the bottom line is nobody really knows because we haven't fed this salmon to anybody yet. fda scientists looked at it and said it seems safe to them. fda has not made a final ruling say it can go on the market. >> would you know -- would they have to label it clearly this has been genetically modified? would it be a trickier than to figure out what fish you are eating? >> that remains to be seen. will the fda approve it? if they do, will they force the company to put a big label on it that says this salmon has been genetically modified. if they did do that would people buy it. would they still want to buy something that's been

genetically modified. >> genetic modification, does it cause any abnormalities in the fish? >> no. the folks that make the fish say caan tell the difference. nutritionally they are the same. the folks that make it say it is identical. >> the labels have to say farmed versus wild caught on the salmon. it would be interesting to see if there would be a market for this. >> maybe some people would think it is better. maybe they think genetically modified would make it tastier. i don't know. it would be interesting to see how viewers respond. president obama preparing to unveil a $350 billion plan to stoke the economy. big speech in cleveland this afternoon. not everyone is onboard. even his former budget director is taking the other side. that story coming up.

welcome back. i'm rob marciano. we have fire threat both on the east and west coasts today. in between we have flood threat with the remains of tropical depression hermine. look at the numbers. they continue to add up. austin, ten inches of rain. ft. hood, texas, saw over eight. it is still raining now up and down the i-35 corridor from san antonio to austin. right up through dallas and across the red river. some of the rain cells will be producing heavy rain. so much so no only do we have flash flood watches but flash flood warnings. that's red highlighted counties. dangerous situation shaping up and continues across central texas. feast or famine for san antonio as far as getting rain or no rain during the summer months. not a lot of rain expected moving through the northeast. this will produce relative

humidities low and gusty winds. the same front that went through detroit and produced those damaging winds and fanned the fires across that city. also, some of the fires in boulder, colorado. the winds are going to slow down air travel in boston and new york because of that. d.c. and philly as well. atlanta may see a little bit of visibility issues slowing down travel there. temperatures will be warming up ahead of this front and cooling down behind it. that's a quick check on weather. when you approach things from a different perspective, you don't end up with just another car. you end up with the all-new saab 9-5 luxury sport sedan.

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good morning. thanks so much for joining us on the most news of the morning on this wednesday, the 8th of september. i'm john rob zblerts i'm kiran chetry. we have a lot to talk about. first the president. he is heading to cleveland to unveil his $350 billion plan to stimulate the economy. tax cuts for businesses, part of it, also new spending on infrastructure, both of those things included in the package. some are wondering is it enough to actually stop the pain and reverse the gains being made right now by republicans? bp releasing the findings of its own investigation into the oil spill in the gulf of mexico.

the oil giant facing billions in fines spreading the blame around. questioning decisions that were made by, quote, multiple companies and work teams for the catastrophe. we will break down the report in just a moment. she's flown around the world visiting people in need. now actress angelina jolie is on the ground in pakistan in the wake of the flooding and talking to those affected by the country's worst natural disaster in its history. the u.n. goodwill ambassador toured the region yesterday. she spent most of her time talking to afghan refugees. we also know she spent time talking to sanjay gupta. we are going to get more of their one-on-one interview just ahead. the a.m. fix blog is up and running. join the live conversation going on now. cnn.com/amfix. as we said president obama hits the road again this morning. today he's headed to cleveland, ohio, hoping to spark a reversal of fortune for the economy but also for his party. he is announcing $350 billion package that's designed to

stimulate the economy, including big tax cuts for small businesses. hoping to help create more jobs. >> we are expecting to see a different side of the president. we are told he's going to be getting personal. earlier on "american morning," senior white house report announced it will be difficult to get any plans through congress in the next few month. >> we have been having a hard time getting tax cuts by the republicans in the senate and held it up with procedural maneuvers. but ultimately, i think the public will demand and the congress will receive the ideas that will help move this economy forward. >> it seems no matter what he does or say, the president can't seem to stop hitting roadblocks as he tries the right the economy. republicans call his position on the bush tax cuts dead wrong. >> the president's own former budget director is taking the other side as well. ed hen i have live in cleveland this morning with more. how concerned with they that

peter orszag and this writing in "the new york times" is in favor of at least temporarily extending bush tax cuts? >> reporter: they are trying to brush that off and say look, the president's not likely to change his position which has been that he believes the bush tax cuts for the rich should expire at the end of this year. what peter orszag was suggesting in "the new york times," though, is that if you raised taxes on the wealthy, it is likely to make the unemployment situation in this country worse. that debate is going to continue. the white house, as you heard from david axelrod, they are trying tune cyst this is not about politics or about the midterm elections. they are focused on rebuilding the economy. the aides acknowledge the reason they picked the cleveland area important the speech today is because that's where john boehner the man that would be the republican speaker of the house if they take over congress, gave a speech just a couple of weeks ago laying out his economic position. the president clearly trying to lay out a contrast here right

before the midterms. here is what he will say today. $200 billion tax cut plan aimed at small businesses. let them write off purchases of building new plans, buying new equipment, $100 million tax credit for businesses in terms of their research and development costs. $50 billion, as we heard the president earlier, on infrastructure. david axelrod talking a lot about that as well. john boehner, though, out this morning already. prequel to the speech saying this just shows that the president is out of touch and still wants to spend too much money and republicans believe this is an acknowledgement the big stimulus last year didn't work as advertised. if the white house is now scrambling to come up with new ideas, as you heard david axelrod push back earlier what they are trying to say is look, this is all about long-term fixes. they are trying to show a contrast with the republicans. not just by coming to the same city of cleveland. john boehner gave his speech to the city club of cleveland. the president will be speaking here at the community college to show they are not going to speak

at an elite club. they will talk here to students. if you brush the politics aside, the real focus here has to be about the unemployment situation. really hard hit in ohio. 310,000 ohioans collects unemployment checks. 60% of them have been long-term unemployed for at least 27 weeks or more. meanwhile, these economic plans, the president talked about today, unlikely to pass -- unlikely to be passed by congress before the election. there's still a lot of war of words, competing plans. people are obviously looking for help. they are hard hit in states like ohio here. >> also, ed, yesterday a real surprise when chicago mayor daly said he will not run for re-election and now, you know, tongues are wagging. will rahm emanuel throw his hat in the ring for chicago mayor? what are they saying there? >> reporter: it seems like he will. when you talk to people close to rahm emanuel, he made no bones about the fact publicly before all of this that some day he

wants to be mayor of chicago. the job hasn't opened up in a couple of decades. this would be his first opportunity. richard daly served six terms. if he wants to jump in, this is the time to do it. the filing deadline to become a candidate, the ends of november. that's a little sooner than rahm emanuel was planning to leave the white house. he wanted to stay until early next year. this would mean he would have to move that up. the smart money now saying he is likely to do it. a lot of people wondering who will be the next white house chief of staff, tom daschle, leon panetta. other big democrats being wa bantied about. he has a lot of experience, seasoned. someone else to watch is valerie jarrett, close to the president. she may be a candidate. >> interesting stuff. we will see what happens. ed henry for in cleveland.

when the president delivers his remarks on the economy, cnn is the place to be. we are going to be bringing it to you live. set to begin around 2:00 eastern time from the west campus of cuyahoga community college. growing outrage by a plan of pastor jones to burn copies of the koran on 9/11. the government officials have joined religious leaders in denouncing the event. attorney general eric holder calls the koran burning idiotic and secretary of state hillary clinton weighed in last night at an event celebrating ramadan. >> i am heartened by the clear unquiver cal condemnation of this disrespectful, disgraceful act. our commitment to religious tolerance goes back to the very beginning of our nation. >> clinton echoed the comments of general david petraeus who said koran burning would endanger american troops overseas. the man behind the plan for

the mosque near ground zero says he's determined to go ahead with the center which includes separate prayer spaces for muslims, contradictions and jews. he also writes in "the new york times" today i am very sensitive to the feelings of the families of victims of 9/11 as are my fellow leaders of many faiths. we will accordingly seek the support of the families and the support of our vibrant neighborhood as we ultimately consider plans for the community center. our objective has always been to make this a center for unification and healing. he will be speaking to cnn's soledad o'brien tonight on "larry king live." 9:00 eastern. right here on cnn. then right after that, 10:00, anderson cooper will have reaction to the iman interview. what caused the deadly oil rig explosion in mexico and for 2 million barrels of oil to leak out of it? the company's own investigative report is out.

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11 minutes after the hour. bp facing more than $20 billion in fines this morning. the oil giant is releasing the results of its own internal investigation into the gulf of mexico oil spill. it may come as no surprise that they are finding plenty of people to blame outside of their company. joining us live from houston this morning is a professor of pet troet yum geoscience at the university of houston. i know you had some opportunity to look through this report. it is a long report. you are still going through it. what are the significant find things that have caught your attention here? >> they have gone through eight steps that led up to the disaster. i think they have done an excellent job of doing that. the first one is issues with the cement. one of the things they seem to avoid at least in the executive

summary and -- it pops up in the full report, a number of these weak points, that is the overall casing plan may have had problems in it that could have contributed to some of the functionality, the cement and pressure readings that led up to them making the wrong decision. >> when we look at what they call weakness in cement design in the well, that's halliburton doing the seem ellening. are they pointing a finger at halliburton here? >> that's a clear finger being pointed on halliburton on that. i haven't been able to read into it far enough to find out where the decision was made to allow them to go ahead with that system. and, you know, the -- nitrogen apparently was not effective as they thought it would be. they think that the nitrogen sort of broke out or pocketed and created gaps in the cement.

>> we heard in the days after the explosion about a pressure test that's showed anomalies. a pressure test was accepted. the well integrity was not established blaming both bp and pointing the finger at transocean. transocean being the people of the rig, people being contacted to drill the well. more shared blame in that instance. >> right. yeah. in that instance, again, the company man, the person representing bp usually has the ultimate decision in that although someone from transocean, if they suspect something is wrong, they certainly have the right to speak up and contradict the company man. >> i have only had a chance to go through the executive summary. maybe it is somewhere in the report and maybe have you come across it. there was also an issue of bp apparently, according to people that from transocean, that have talked about this, ordered that

the drilling mud be removed and replaced with sea water and many experts say wouldn't be heavy enough to keep the oil down that led to the blowout. do we see that anywhere in report? >> we do. what happened was they had the system overbalanced or overpressured with mud prior to doing just that. removing the mud, which would have held back any gas and oil that was trying to escape. but the minute they removed the mud from the riser, they went into an underbalanced situation. the gas was allowed to escape. >> has that then cited as a cause of this explosion? >> that's one of the steps in the series of problems that did occur. they do point that out as a significant failure. >> you know, they don't point to any single action or inaction to cause the accident. they say in the report, quote,

rather a complex and series of mechanical failures, engineering design, operational implementation and team interfaces came together to allow the initiation and escalation of the accident. based on that, if this was not a single failure, but rather a systemic failure and a number of failures, how do you expect that that is going to change operating procedure in the future? >> i think there are a number of procedures in place to cause people to check and recheck and stop at certain points along the way. what's interesting in this case is that they actually went through eight steps and no one said hey, stop. that, to me, is more of a rig problem than, say, systemic problem across the oil industry. >> we will be spending some time ingesting this report. it is large one. don, thanks for being with us this morning. good of you to share your

expertise. we appreciate it. >> thank you. >> 15 minutes past the hour mao. still ahead, oscar winning actress and u.n. global ambassador for goodwill, angelina jolie is in pakistan. she met with flood victims and spoke to our own sanjay gupta about what she saw as she toured the destruction.

19 minutes past the hour. a cnn exclusive. our sanjay gupta speaks one-on-one with actress angelina jolie. she makes a desperate plea on behalf of the 21 million flood victims in pakistan. >> you bring so much awareness to what's happening there. why do you think that people haven't paid as much attention to what's happening in pakistan? >> i think people have a fatigue and in general when it comes to disaster relief. but if i can say that the thing i have learned the most in being here is that we tend to focus on one issue at a time because that seems to be what people can absorb and care for. the pakistan is so complex because it has not just the people being affected now but the 1.7 million afghan people

that are here. they have been displaced from the flood. >> often -- you may have found this as well in your travels, we tend to think of these places as over there. somewhere else. not here. when you go and i was there as well, i mean, you meet people. they are real faces and stories behind these crazy high numbers. raymond is a person you met. tell me about him. >> as you, we go to these places and you always say the same things to the viewer which is that they would be so moved if they were here. it is so true. if they met all these children so resilient and are still children and so full of life and love and hope. it is always so moving. and this is a very unique for me because i met with beautiful older couple that are in their 70s. they worked their whole lives. the man had been in the pakistani military twice and had been lived off of a pension. with that small pension he built this home and his family and for his grandchildren. it was very modest to begin

with. he had something. now they are both dealing with a lot of sickness and as you see from the tape, the woman was -- is so embarrassed with her situation. the man spoke to the fact that he never felt in his lifetime he is ever going to be able to recuperate what he lost. that he would never have again nice things. he would never have a nice bed, a nice house. and she -- they lived in this place since 1972. and raised their children and their grandchildren there. in a moment, a few hours, it was completely gone. they are really good people. really just kind, wonderful, hard-working older people who will pass away most likely in this mud-covered area. which is so covered with dirt and feces in the river nearby. it is covered in flies. it doesn't have the dignity they deserve to live in, anyone

deserves to live in. >> it is more heartbreaking to hear that they are embarrassed to tell you about it. i don't know -- you know, how that should make somebody feel. i traveled through the camps where i saw these kids in their tents. in the situations you are describing, having done the homework, and being a father as well. i don't know. it really got at me because they have dreams and aspirations and hopes and those things are spread throughout the world evenly. are you optimistic about the next generation of pakistan? it is a young country and devastated so many times now as you just mentioned. >> i think we have no choice but to be optimistic and have hope without that we are just lost and things deteriorate. i think it is -- this part of the world, they are resilient people. think of all that they have been hit with. they continue to move on, to rebuild. to trade and educate and to learn and, you know, they are really trying. they have fought through a lot

and will continue to fight through. that's for for the afghani people as well. we have to. we have to support them. for all the people worried about conflict in this part of the world, they think it is far away and don't understand the corruption, the only way to make for a healthier, more hopeful stronger pakistan and afghanistan is to help support education and help people especially in this time of need and not allow for more devastation and more desperation. >> one thing that's worth pointing out, you are there now. i just returned from there. this is ongoing. i think a lot of the reports would have you believe that this is somewhat over. the way, you know, flooding continues and in some of the parts of the south where i was most recently, there are places still being displaced. have you gotten a sense of the scope of this? they say the size of the state of florida or new england. how do you convey that the -- the scope of this to people back

home? >> to convey, it is very difficult to say to people please care, please help. i think -- we are both thinking that having been here and met these people to say remember, they are people. they are family and lovely, lovely hard-working people and beautiful children. they deserve dignity and assistance and we have to treat them with respect and try to preserve what we can of their livelihood and their future. >> great to hear from her. great that she cared to go there and raise awareness like that and willing to talk to sanjay about it. >> i like the idea in part at least sanjay's reporting that inspired her to go tloefr and get a firsthand look at it. the u.n. goodwill ambassador said she feels close to the people of pakistan. she has been to the country several times. her last visit was in 2005 after the devastating earthquake. >> if have you seen that and wondering what can i do, we want to let you know there is a place you can go to help. you can head to the special section of our website.

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the breaking news this morning is to give you our top stories. bp releasing the results of its internal investigation a short time ago. the joyl joint questioning decisions made by, quote, multiple companies and work teams for april's oil rig explosion that triggered the worst oil spill in u.s. history. the company's internal report also concluded weaknesses in cement design and testing. >> the man behind the islamic center and mosque planned near

ground zero insists he will go ahead with the project despite all the controversy. imam feisal abdul rauf says that the center is designed to build bridges between faiths and seek the support of 9/11 families. imam sits down for an exclusive interview with soledad o'brien who is filling in on "larry king live." president obama heading to dpland a few hours. he will make make the case for jump starting the economy. including expanded tax cuts and infrastructure spending. the president will reinforce his position against extending bush era tax cuts for the wealthiest 2% of american families critical swing state to track this election season is kentucky. the cnn election express crossed the ohio river into covington, kentucky, just outside of cincinnati. >> there is a big senate race being fought. rand paul taking on jack conway in a key test for the tea party. our senior national correspondent john king joining us live from covington now.

of course, all eyes on rand paul in this upcoming election. >> it is a fascinating race in part because of the tea party surge that won him the nomination. in part because republicans desperately immediate to keep his seat. it is a seat in republican hands open because of the retirement of jim bunting. paul shocked them and won. mcconnell had a different candidate in the primary. the tea party energy. resurgence on the right with tea party help got rand paul the nomination. the question is can democrats take that seat away? the polls right now show you that rand paul is leading in that race. eight weeks to go. jack conway is the democratic state attorney general. democrats are hope something how they can portray rand paul as extreme and outside the mainstream and take this seat. at the moment, republicans are confident they will keep this seat. this is a reminder as much as we talk over the next several weeks about how tough of a year this is for the democrats, rand paul's upset here and a number

of other tea party upsets across the country, reminder voters don't necessarily hold the republican establishment in such high esteem either. >> the president's also planning to unveil this today when he heads to ohio. $180 billion that includes tax cuts, infrastructure spending. how does he sell these proposals so they help the democrats heading into the midterms? >> it is a great point. the president's proposal was need approval in the congress and nobody thinks he can get the votes before election day. the challenge for the president is trying to convince the american people look, it is tough. we mo things are tough. we are trying and the president and democratic party, his message will be of the team that's our side. it matters immensely. democrats have so many vulnerable candidates. including just across the river. the democratic district north of cincinnati. a democratic freshman running against a former republican, steve chabot. the economy is the issues.

many americans concluded the stimulus spending didn't work as well as the white house said it would. they are looking -- latest poll shows they trust the republicans more than democrats to handle the economy. in addition to the specifics the president will unveil today, part of this is the psychology of the economy. trying to convince voters that we have a better plan. it is just going to take a while. i was exchanging e-mails with pollsters on the democratic and republican side. most think this is too late from the president to change the overall election dynamic. >> on this subject of polling, a new poll out this morning, finds that 51% of respondents view nancy pelosi unfavorably. that makes her perhaps the most unpopular democrat in america. and what potential effect could that have in the midterm elections? >> again, it is another fascinating piece of data. if you go back to 2006 nancy pelosi was emerging to become the speaker of the house, only 23% of americans had an unfavorable opinion of her.

why? americans don't tend to know their congressional leaders. as the speaker of the house, she has become a rallying cry. she has become as much as president obama has been a face of the democratic party and a face for republicans to blame for when they criticized democratic policies. she can be a rallying cry. it is easier to run against something when you can personalize it which is why you hear republicans running against the obama white house or against speaker pelosi. it has been much harder for the democrats. watch the president. he will get more personal and name names in the republican party. it is much harder to focus and attack when you can't personalize the enemy and nancy pelosi has become a poster child. as you travel across the country, you will see her face or her name in republican campaign ads in places just a few years ago not many people would have known who nancy pelosi was. >> john king for us this morning. thanks so much. be sure to watch tonight at 7:00 eastern. gearing up for the mid terms. he hits three key states. pennsylvania, kentucky, ohio. "john king usa election road

trip." >> we will be breaking down the races with the best political team on television. thursday, tomorrow, we are in indianapolis. coverage from t.j. holmes. we will be checking in with john king, dana bash, jessica yellin. president obama plans to shift his tone on the economy ditching policy lectu approach. andrew rossorkin, business reporter forks "the new york times," coming up next. the most powerful half-ton crew in america has a powertrain backed for 100,000 miles. chevy silverado half-ton a consumers digest best buy and the most dependable, longest-lasting full-size pickups on the road. now get 0% apr for 72 months on 2010 silverado half-ton models with an average finance savings around $5,600.

s 36 minutes after the hour. we are told the president is going to get personal today when he addresses the nation about the economy. >> he is giving a speech in cleveland. it will be at 2:00 this afternoon. the president's pushing for investment in infrastructure as well as tax breaks for businesses. here to help us break it all down is andrew ross sorkin, a business reporter for "the new york times" and author of the bestseller "too big to fail." welcome. we are talking about this $50 billion, combination of tax cuts, infrastructure spending, et cetera. your take on whether or not thi ground, will help the economy? >> it will. it is a good thing. the challenge is it will take a very long time to roll this out. will it affect the economy? will it get money into people's pockets? yes. it could be two, three years out. this isn't a shovel-ready situation where people are going

to get jobs tomorrow. that's the hardest part for the president as gets into the elections. this isn't going to move the needle in terms of the political calculus. >> the white house and democrats at general seem to be losing the confidence of the business community to some degree at least. you had this in one of your columns, the chief of intel saying that an aspen retreat last week, the next thing thing won't be invented here. jobs will not be created here. he's basically suggesting the white house -- democrats don't get it. they don't know how to create jobs. >> this particular speech today and proposal itself is supposed to address that. the biggest piece of that being what's called the research and development tax credit. if you are a business, these tax credits will be permanent. that's a good thing. the idea that if you are going to invest in plants or technology, you are going to be able to write that off 100% in the next year. that's very important because there's some pent-up demand to do those expenditures.

this should accelerate that. it doesn't do anything about demand itself. businesses suffering may still not make that investment. >> it comes back to the woeshg again. 11 million people out work. 11 million jobs just waiting. >> get back to 2007 levels, you need to create 11 million jobs overnight. to do that over a three-year period, you have to create 400,000 jobs a month. look at the numbers we have been hearing about every month. we are so far from that. the idea that we are actually going to feel it in our wallet any time soon, i hate to say is wishful thinking. >> if it is a he session, infrastructure seems like a good idea. >> absolutely. it puts the country in a better place and from a stimulus perspective, the last stimulus plan people said we didn't get enough value for our drar. dollar. we got 80 cents out. infrastructure means you spent a dollar and over time you create $1.50 of value. there is something to be said about this plan. again, i think lit take time

before we actually feel the effects. >> what about the issue of the bush tax cuts? they are set to expire the end of this year. peter orszag, former budget director, extend the tax cuts for two years and then eliminate them for everybody. the. wants to raise taxes on high income, $250,000. does it make sense to extend those tax cuts? >> i'm with peter. i actually think extending the tax cuts make sense because we have the short-term gap. the question is in two years from now have we overcome the short-term gap or are we still in the same problem because in two years if we haven't gotten over the problem it means you won't be able to get rid of the taxes again either. then the question -- other question is at $250,000 is that the right number? can the president actually tax those people at a higher rate without impacting the economy? this has been raised. do you actually create another tier? you know the president talks about people at $250 thousand. talking about people getting paid $ 00,000. a million dollars. whether those are the people

he's trying to approach, not this lower group. >> you also say you agree with orszag, eventually we need to create more revenue. >> we have to create more revenue. >> does it need to come -- none of us want to admit it -- in the form of higher taxes? >> there's no question we have to create high revenue, probably through higher taxes and we are going to have to cut spending. period. the rubber has to hit the road. when and how do you do it in a meaningful way out hurting ourselves today? >> the president's position on tax cuts, is this an economic problem for him or is it a political one? he was the one that promised in this campaign not to raise taxes on the middle class. he has to get revenues from somewhere. >> i think he's keeping his promise by not going after the quote, unquote middle class. so he will score some political points there. the real issue, though is can he score enough political points to do anything about november? the answer at this point is no. this plan really is, you know, far out. >> the other big question is can

you raise enough money on the backs of the super wealthy to close this gap? >> sadly you can't. there is -- the other political calculus is it sounds good. tell the american public we are going after the richest. that's a good thing. but again, it is not enough money. that doesn't mean you don't want that money. it overall doesn't take care of the problem. >> here is another fly in the ointment. talking about health insurance, like blue cross/blue shield saying we have to raise premiums. as a direct result of the health care reform. does that give business pause when it comes to hiring looking ahead to the future, the possibility of tax cuts and increasing -- >> the flip side to all of these policies -- so this news out of cleveland today will be good news. the bad news is the health care plan doesn't really help the financial regulation and again, doesn't really help for jobs. and so all -- it helps long term but all of these things in the

short term are going to create a crunch. that's really the challenge we are all facing. >> do you think that this zero sum game in washington, too, is contributing to our economic woes? somebody has to lose in order for someone to win. we see fighting back and forth. >> we are going to see gridlock depending what happens with the elections in november. when you think about the next couple of months, you know, can the republicans say no to -- can the republicans effectively say no to tax credits? that to me will be an interesting issue. >> a difficult place. >> they will be in a very difficult place. yet, i imagine they still will find a way. it is going to be an interesting couple of months. >> andrew ross sorkin, good to see you. when the president delivers his remarks on the economy this afternoon cnn is the only place to be. we will bring it to you live at 2:00 p.m. eastern time from the west coast of cuyahoga community college. head to our ticker.

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antonio. well inland. winds picking up. lawn chairs in pools. heavy rainfall. this storm packing a punch for sure. peaking a lot more people than hurricane earl did a week ago. good morning. look at this rainfall tallies in austin. just north and west of town by about ten miles. over ten inches of rainfall. it is still coming down now. in ft. hood, texas, seeing over eight inches. victoria, over seven inches. here is the radar. look at this stream of moisture continuing to flow in from the gulf of mexico. the center of what was tropical storm hermine. right there. slowly moving up towards oklahoma and that's where a lot of this rain is headed. even though it is still raining heavily down into parts of the south. dallas, boy, a nasty day. i don't see it getting any better. flash flood watches and a lot of warnings out from the i-35 corridor, san antonio to austin. right through dallas, could see another six inches of rainfall on top of what we have already seen. here is what our computer model

says. any time you see white here, the forecast, we are seeing over six inches of rainfall. that's a distinct possibility as we go through the next 12 to 24 hours. we had winds in detroit yesterday. fanning flames. numerous fires in the city itself. those same winds are going to be cranking through parts of jersey and philadelphia area. we have a red flag warning up later on today for a front. same front that went through detroit. pretty much the same system that went through boulder is going through the i-95 corridor here. dry for the most part with the exception of eastern new england. once this goes through, that's when we will see the gusty, dry winds. be aware of that. that is going to slow down air travel at the very least. boston, new york metro over an hour delay. d.c. and philly, same deal. houston, of course, dallas, we will see some rain delays because of the heavy thunderstorms that are rolling through that area. 81 degrees expected in kansas city. 82 in denver. 84 in dallas.

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♪ 50 minutes past the hour. inside look at how troops in afghanistan deal with danger they face each and every day. it is part of our ongoing series "a soldier's story." >> we are following sergeant shorter and his third tour of duty from forward operating base rushmore. he joins us now live from kabul. the one thing you always find is they have a great attitude in their head pretty much totally in the game, jason. >> reporter: that's exactly what it is. totefully the game. completely wanting to get to the mission. and it is a long time in terms of getting here. there were a few delays, few stops and starts. that's how it works sometimes in afghanistan. especially during the surge when you have a lot of troops trying to get into a specific area. sergeant randy shorter and his men are finally out there starting the mission. located about an hour or so

south of here, did he pending upon how good the roads are. oftentimes they are not very good. but we were there with them as they started their mission, john, kiran. it was fascinating to see them as her engaging the afghan people. we went out with them on security patrols. we were there every step of the process. just a short while ago before we took off and got the guys together and said what we would like do is get you together and talk about what's on your mind. of course, war was issue number one. so we got their opinions about the war and about the special bond that they all seem to share. >> we are not trying to fight them at all. all we do is protect ourselves. we are just trying to help, keep these people together. get them built up to where they can take care of themselves. >> i think it is the fear of what will happen next. you never know what's behind their corner, what will -- you

know, just never know what will happen. >> you have to understand, too, you know, it is not like a common war. you know, we are fighting guys behind civilian clothes embedded with the population. >> reporter: where do you think the bond between you guys comes from? >> sweating with them. you bleed with them, sweat with them. they are your brothers. when we are deployed, my problems are their problems. their problems are my problems. we share that among each other. you can't get to tighter than that that. >> everybody knows we are here for each other and love each other. we understand that we are going to get mad at times. we are going to get frustrated. at the end of the day we know hey, we are here. i'm still here. you are still here. we are going to make it. that's what it is all about. making sure we are together 100%. >> reporter: the deployment will last for one year for all of the men in the unit at forward

operating base rushmore. even though we are pulling out now, john and kiran, it is just for this particular point but what we are going to be doing is bringing all the material back with us, putting it back together as part of our special series we have been doing called "a soldier's story." as soon as i get an opportunity to get back to new york and put it together i'm anxious for to you see all of the term and see these men at work. john, kiran. >> it is going to be great to see, jason. talking about the soldiers, part of the big task they have is the diplomacy with people they are dealing with in the afghan communities. what's that relationship like? >> reporter: well, it can be a very good relationship depending upon some of thevilleages they go to. in some cases, it can be tense. at one point we went to a large meeting of the village elders. most of them were very recenttive recenptive

to what the soldiers had to say. there were some in the back of the room, i was told they were leaning towards the taliban. it is a long process, a process that will definitely take the time they are here. >> jason, we have seen the constant threat from improvised explosive devices. suicide bombings have been more frequently used by taliban militants and insurgents. what are they on highest alert for while on patrol? what's the greatest danger they face? >> in the region where they are, john, it really is the improvised explosive devices, ieds. so many of the roads down in these remote areas in the south, they are not paved. it is very easy to hide something. i have to tell you, all of the soldiers are telling me that the insurgents are getting smarter and they are becoming better fighters. so this war is really about planting and setting ieds and then the troops responding to that. they are getting much better at doing it and they are adapting very quickly.

>> jason, we will see you back here real soon. it is now 56 minutes after the hour. when i use expedia, my friends at work think there's more than one "me." ...because on our trips, i always get there faster. see, expedia lets me mix and match airlines.

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♪ lots happening today. president obama heading to cleveland this morning to talk about the economy and his $350 billion plan to stimulate it. cnn will bring you his speech live at 2:00 p.m. eastern time from the west campus of cuyahoga community college. >> at 9:00 eastern tonight, there is an exclusive interview with imam feisal abdul rauf. the man behind the planned islamic mosque near ground zero. he will be speaking to soledad o'brien about the controversy. she is fillings in tonight on "larry king live." directly following at ten clock, anderson will have reaction to the imam interview on "a.c. 360." continue the conversation on today's stories. go to our blog. thanks so much for joining thus morning. we will see you back here again bright and early tomorrow. >> the news continues. "cnn newsroom" with krya phillips starts right now. good mni